Hector’s Dolphin is in trouble.  What we do in the next few years will determine whether this little dolphin still has a future.  But at the same time, this story is also about what we’ll still be dealing with when, from a cetacean advocate’s point of view, things have gone relatively well in your country.  Let’s dive in.

Hector’s is the only cetacean endemic to New Zealand (meaning that it is a native species, and lives there and nowhere else).  As such, this is a fortunate circumstance in a number of ways.  Dolphins there aren’t hunted and deliberately killed.  They aren’t exploited for profit by being subjected to capture for the marine park industry.  New Zealand itself has no captive dolphins.  The last one, Kelly, a Common Dolphin, died at Napier’s Marineland in 2008.  That same year, the NZ government rejected a petition asking that that park be allowed to acquire more dolphins for display.  It’s exceptionally likely that the nightmare of dolphin captivity is over for good in New Zealand.

By any definition, NZ is a nation that ranks very high in terms of being humane towards cetaceans.  It’s also a place that runs well, has effective law enforcement for the protection of other species, has a general public which is conscientious of animal welfare issues, and so forth.  It would be fortunate if every country had achieved a similar level of progress in defining its relationship to whales and dolphins.  Nevertheless, and even with all that said, the dangers faced by Hector’s dolphins are very real.  The species is classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered.  

What we see in this case are those issues affecting cetacean wellbeing that we’ll all end up having to cope with once all the ‘lower hanging fruit’ has been taken care of.  The threats faced by Hector’s are difficult and challenging.  And to an incredible extent, they turn on the activities of the fishing industry.  We all need to be much more aware of the threats posed by the day-to-day operations of this industry, and their potential for harm.  

Hector’s are among the smallest dolphins in the world, averaging only about 50 kgs and less than a meter and a half in length.  They have distinct black markings on their short stocky bodies, and a dorsal fin sometimes described as being shaped like a Mickey Mouse ear.  They eat a variety of coastal schooling fish and squid and, like other dolphins, they use echolocation to find their food.  Found only in the shallow coastal waters along NZ shores, their entire population is estimated at only about 7,000.

Hector’s dolphins have among the most restricted ranges of all dolphins.  They prefer waters less than 100m deep and normally stick to within 16km of New Zealand’s shore.  Individuals show a preference for habitats they know well, usually staying within an area of about 50km of coastline.  This is problematic because as their numbers have fallen, their distribution has been increasingly fractured around the coast.  This makes the difficulties they face even more threatening to their survival. 

Living close to shore means that they frequently risk becoming entangled in fishing gear and drowning.  Gill and trawl nets, both commercial and recreational, represent by far the biggest threat.  The dolphins are unable to detect the fine mesh these are made from when it’s underwater, which results in their getting caught.  Other threats include collisions with boats or their propellers, pollution in their habitat, ingesting marine litter (usually plastics), coastal development and seabed mining.

All of these need to be dealt with, but it’s the fishing nets especially that are pushing this dolphin to edge of extinction.  Their numbers are now less than 25% of what they were in the 1970s.  The Maui dolphin, a recently recognized subpopulation that lives around North Island, is now down to approximately 60 individuals and is classified as critically endangered.  Time to act to save them is short.

The New Zealand government has announced action to save them, and has been actively consulting with the public and NGOs.  The most helpful measure we can implement immediately would be to ban the more dangerous nets from any of the habitats where the dolphins live.  Continuing to let them die as ‘bycatch’ is unacceptable.  Both from a conservation and a moral point of view.  

A specific proposal put forward by NGOs for the government’s consideration is to ramp up the use of on-board cameras on fishing boats to monitor dolphin entanglements in fishing gear.  While perhaps not preventing them to any significant degree, it would at least increase transparency.  If this drives changes in behaviour the industry would benefit from increased public trust.  The obvious shortcoming is that dolphins would continue to die while we gather data, unless we accompany this monitoring with other preventative measures.

I believe that it’s well overdue that we implement the IUCN’s recommendation that we remove all gillnet and trawl fisheries from waters less than 100 meters deep.  Besides being the organization that classifies the status of species (as endangered, threatened and so on), the IUCN’s role is to advise governments on how best to protect them.  If in their view there is no other way to prevent entanglements, we ought to be listening.

This is, after all, an issue that transcends conservation.  Dying by drowning in a fishing net is a horrific way to go for these wonderful little dolphins who love to play and ride the surf.  Imagine for yourself the experience of struggling to reach the surface so that you can take your next breath.  Even those who manage to escape entanglement before they suffocate will often suffer injury, and most certainly will experience trauma and extreme stress.  We owe them much better than that.  

I appreciate the need for the New Zealand government’s proposed Bycatch Reduction Plan, as Hector’s Dolphin is at risk of extinction right now.  But regardless of the conservation status of any dolphin, the only acceptable number for ‘bycatch’ is zero.  It’s not enough to ‘significantly reduce the amount of bycatch’.  Reckless endangerment of other individuals is never acceptable – and dolphins are indeed individual persons in their own right.  We need to at least recognize that.  Saving the Hector’s Dolphin is about much more than simply the conservation a species. 

At some point, we need to ask ourselves, how badly do we need the fish on our supermarket shelves?  Personally, I’m happy to get the proteins and other health benefits available in seafood from other sources.  Last year, I made the decision to skip the seafood aisle for the foreseeable future.  At least until the fishing industry comes a very long way indeed in developing sustainable practices, and in attaining the proper standard of care we owe to dolphins.  Hector’s Dolphins can’t afford to have us do any less.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Dakota, Canadian Cetacean Alliance